Predictive modelling of methane yield in biochar-amended cheese whey and septage co-digestion: Exploring synergistic effects using Gompertz and neural networks.

This study performed bench scale studies on anaerobic co-digestion of cheese whey and septage mixed with biochar (BC) as additive at various dosages (0.5 g, 1 g, 2 g and 4 g) and total solids (TS) concentrations (5%, 7.5%, 10%,12.5% and 15%). The experimental results revealed 29.58% increase in methane yield (486 ± 11.32 mL/gVS) with 27% reduction in lag phase time at 10% TS concentration and 50 g/L of BC loading. The mechanistic investigations revealed that BC improved process stability by virtue of its robust buffering capacity and mitigated ammonia inhibition. Statistical analysis indicates BC dosage had a more pronounced effect (P < 0.0001) compared to the impact of TS concentrations. Additionally, the results were modelled using Gompertz model (GM) and artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm, which revealed the outperformance of ANN over GM with MSE 17.96, R2 value 0.9942 and error 0.27%. These findings validated the practicality of utilizing a high dosage of BC in semi-solid anaerobic digestion conditions.

Rice mill wastewater management in the era of circular economy.

Several nations around the world use rice as their primary food staple because of its tremendous nutritional value. India's expanding population has sparked a proliferation of rice mills as a result of the country's growing rice demand. However, small and medium-scale industries lack adequate facilities for processing effluents and other waste generated. Paddy is typically processed by parboiling, which involves soaking it in water, boiling it with steam, and then drying and milling. Around 1-1.5 L of water is necessary to partially cook 1 kg of unhusked rice, with approximately half of this water being discharged as effluent. Disposal of rice mill effluent (RME) in water bodies or on the land causes severe damage to soil and water. An inclusive examination of diverse approaches for the treatment and stabilization of partially cooked rice milling effluents is provided. Moreover, the document provides a concise overview of contemporary and environmentally friendly technologies for treating RME. Adsorption, electrocoagulation, chemical coagulation, and bioremediation using microbes, plants, and microalgae are all included in these methods. This manuscript discusses the concept of a circular economy, which is focused on enhancing environmental sustainability through the recycling and repurposing of generated waste into raw materials for the creation of new products. In addition, this review aims to focus on the impact of RME on soils and water species and the status of sustainable management at the point of circular economy with RME bioenergy production (bioelectricity, biomethane, and bio-hydrogen).

Nanoplastics removal from spiked laundry wastewater using electro-peroxidation process.

Microplastics and nanoplastics (NPs) in laundry wastewater (LWW) are major sources of plastic particles in wastewater treatment plants. Unlike microplastics, almost no information exists in the literature on the degradation of NPs in LWW. In this work, the degradation of NPs in commercial LWW by the electro-peroxidation process is investigated. The obtained results demonstrated that already existing ions in LWW such as Cl- contribute to faster degradation of NPs and a complete removal could be obtained as fast as 40 min. In addition, three-dimensional excitation and emission matrix fluorescence analysis was performed, which revealed humic acid-like, aromatic proteins-like, and fulvic acid-like compounds could be oxidized after 20, 40, and 60 min of treatment respectively. The effects of operating parameters on the process performance were then examined by response surface methodology (RSM) models. The results showed that initial TOC concentration was the most important parameter influencing negatively the percentage of NP degradation. Afterward, optimization of the process revealed that the energy consumption could be minimized at 31.2 mA/cm2, 0.025 mol/L [Na2SO4], and 52 min treatment time for 52.2 mg/L initial TOC. Finally, analysis of treated LWW showed no toxicity on Daphnia magna. This study showed that the electro-peroxidation process can completely degrade NPs in LWW without any remaining toxic compounds.

Biochar symbiosis in anaerobic digestion to enhance biogas production: A comprehensive review.

In recent years, anaerobic digestion (AD) has gained popularity as a practical method for generating clean energy and efficiently managing organic waste. However, the effectiveness of the reactor is compromised by the accumulation of ammonia, acids, and nutrients, leading to inhibition and instability. Because of its adaptability, biochar (BC) has sparked a substantial interest in biogas production and can be created by charring biomass and waste materials. Adding BC to the AD process could yield the following benefits: mitigating toxic inhibition, reducing the duration of the methanogenic lag phase, immobilising functional bacteria, and enhancing the rate of electron transfer between methanogenic and acetogenic microorganisms. Nonetheless, there remains to be more comprehensive knowledge regarding the multifaceted function of BC and its intricate mechanisms in the generation of biogas in AD. The research summarises scattered information from the literature on BC production from various feedstocks and factors affecting its characteristics. Additionally, a comprehensive analysis of the utilisation of BC as an additive within AD is presented here, emphasising how BC characteristics impact AD processes and how they effectively engage key challenges.

Regulation of acidogenic fermentation through exogenous additives for promoting carbon conversion of food waste in two-phase anaerobic system.

In this study, exogenous Megasphaera elsdenii inoculum and acetate supplementation were introduced at the acidogenic phase to regulate the acidogenic fermentation pathway and assess their effects on food waste (FW) carbon conversion in two-phase anaerobic digestion (AD) system. These two additives significantly accelerated organic removal efficiency and subsequently increased FW hydrolysis and acidogenesis by 16% and 35%, respectively. As expected, two exogenous additives promoted butyrate fermentation during FW acidogenesis. With regard to the role of exogenous additives, both hydrogen and butyrate yields increased by over 60%. This desired increment resulted in a 25% increase in methane production. The overall carbon conversion from FW in the integrated two-phase AD system was enhanced by biochemical additives, which was 1.3-fold higher than that in control without any additives. Collectively, findings demonstrate the feasibility of regulating acidogenic fermentation via exogenous biochemical additives and its benefits on FW carbon conversion during AD process.

Trends and challenges in the valorization of kitchen waste to polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Kitchen waste (KW) is frequently available for free or with a negative cost due to its huge production. It contains a large proportion of organic substances, especially fermentable sugars, which can be used for bioplastic (polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHA) synthesis. Nevertheless, due to the difficulties in processing, various pre-treatments of KW are being investigated to enhance the concentration of simple sugars released during its hydrolysis. The effective use of KW will help in minimizing the issues of its inappropriate disposal. However, the review on KW to bioplastic synthesis is rarely reported in the literature. Hence, this particular review provides a comprehensive summary of the updated research developments in KW valorization and its potency as a feedstock for PHAs synthesis. Additionally, the impacts of KW, its availability, the necessary pre-treatments for the biopolymerization process, as well as the prospects and challenges for industrially generating sustainable PHAs, are critically discussed.

Comparison of GHG emissions from open field burning and anaerobic digestion of rice straw.

Rice straw (RS) has been burned in open fields in many countries, which is a growing environmental concern. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of RS is one of the sustainable alternatives to open burning of RS for converting the biomass into methane, carbon dioxide, and digestate for use as agricultural manure. The present study evaluates the RS generation, use patterns, and greenhouse gas emissions from open field burning and the AD of RS. Results indicate the AD of RS offers greater environmental benefits than that by RS open field burning. As a result of the open burning of RS in India emitted 592032.52 kg of CO2 equivalents/kg per year, whereas AD of RS contributes 122.86 kg of CO2 equivalents/kg per year. If RS were burned in an open field, its Global Warming Potential would be 493,873 times greater than that of AD. By minimizing GHG emissions and creating sustainable energy from waste, sustainable development, and circular economies are achieved.

Advancements in laundry wastewater treatment for reuse: a review.

Laundry related activities produce huge quantity of wastewater that is very rich in lint, dyes, surfactants, and detergents. The large amount of laundry wastewater (LWW) is generated by extensive human activities. LWW needs to be treated in order to tackle the challenging problem of water pollution and to accomplish water sustainability. To achieve this success, LWW can be reused for several purposes such as irrigation, construction activities, vehicle washing etc. However, there are several challenges in the reclamation of LWW like effective handling of the wastewater and meeting the regulatory criteria. Based on the literature review it seems that a single treatment process is not sufficient to treat LWW up to acceptable reuse standards. To that end, different treatment chains have been proposed: i) hybrid processes combining membrane filtration with adsorption; ii) advanced oxidation process using ultraviolet (UV) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); iii) coagulation-flocculation combined with sand filtration; iv) combination of ozonation process, adsorption, and ultrafiltration (UF). This review paper discusses the selection of suitable treatment technology depends on several factors: i) a well-designed equipment, ii) cost-effectiveness of treatment method and iii) desired characteristics of the treated water. The review paper also presents solutions for treatment and reclamation of LWW.

Bio-conversion of whey lactose using enzymatic hydrolysis with ß-galactosidase: an experimental and kinetic study.

Lactose in cheese whey is increasingly challenging to metabolise under normal conditions. The hydrolysis of whey lactose into glucose and galactose using enzymatic methods has been acclaimed to confer benefits like enhanced substrate availability for better degradation in anaerobic digestion. In the present study, whey lactose was subjected to hydrolysis using the enzyme ß-galactosidase derived from Aspergillus oryzae fungus to reduce the difficulty of lipid and fat transformation in anaerobic digestion. The individual and combined effects of hydrolysis parameters, pH, enzyme load, reaction time and temperature were studied using Response Surface Methodology by Central Composite Design. The optimum conditions were determined based on variance analyses and surface plots; pH 4.63, temperature 40.47°C, reaction time 25.96 min and enzyme load 0.49%. Results showed a maximum lactose hydrolysis value of 86.21%, while the predicted value was 87.44%. Indeed, enzyme hydrolysis induced a change of soluble chemical oxygen demand around 24.6% and 75.8% reduction in volatile fatty acid concentration. Upon anaerobic digestion, the pre-hydrolysed whey revealed a 3.6-fold higher bio-methane production than that of raw hey, and a visible decrease in volatile fatty acid concentrations. The resultant data agreed with the Gompertz model, and lag phase times were significantly reduced for hydrolysed whey.

Dark fermentation: Production and utilization of volatile fatty acid from different wastes- A review.

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are the building blocks of the chemical industry, and they are the primary contributors to the planet's organic carbon cycle. VFA production from fossil fuels (mostly petroleum) is unsustainable, pollutes the environment, and generates greenhouse gases. As a result of these issues, there is a pressing need to develop alternate sources for the long-term generation of VFAs via anaerobic digestion. The accessible feedstocks for its sustainable production, as well as the influencing parameters, are discussed in this review. The use of VFAs as a raw material to make a variety of consumer products is reviewed in order to find a solution. It also bridges the gap between traditional and advanced VFA production and utilization methods from a variety of solid and liquid waste sources for economical stability.

Bioconversion of organic wastes into value-added products: A review.

Rapid urbanization has increased the demand for food, feed, and chemicals that have in turn augmented the use of fossil-based resources and generation of organic waste. Owning to the characteristics like high abundance, renewability, and ease of accessibility, valorization of organic wastes serves as a potential solution for waste management issues. Several industrial wastes, due to their organic and nutrient-rich composition, have been utilized as a resource for the production of value-added products such as biofuels, biopesticides, biohydrogen, enzymes, and bioplastics via microbial fermentation processes. The process consists of pre-treatment of the waste biomass, production of value-added product in reactors and downstream processing for product's recovery. The integration of new comprehensive technologies for organic waste utilization will also stimulate the transition towards a circular economy. Therefore, the feasibility and sustainability of the production of various value-added products from biowastes and byproduct streams will be discussed in the present review.

Heavy metal impact on lipid production from oleaginous microorganism cultivated with wastewater sludge.

Using municipal wastewater sludge to produce microbial lipid is an effective way of resource recycling. Sludge contains heavy metals and may lead to negative impact on lipid production. However, relative study has not been reported. In this study, metal impact on Lipomyces starkeyi lipid accumulation was conducted. Results showed that Cd2+ had great impact on lipid accumulation, but other metals had no much impact. The maximum lipid content of L. starkeyi cultivated in 0.55 mg/L of Cd2+ was only 41% w/w, which was lower than the control (51% w/w). The inhibition on acetyl-CoA formation was observed when Cd2+ was in the medium. After removing metals from sludge, the lipid accumulation was only around half of the one without metal removal. It would be due to that not only the toxic metals in the sludge were removed as well as the metals such as Zn2+ which can enhance lipid accumulation.

Electrochemical degradation of nanoplastics in water: Analysis of the role of reactive oxygen species.

Microplastics and nanoplastics (NPs) are emerging water contaminants which have recently gained lots of attention because of their effects on the aquatic systems and human life. Most of the previous works on the treatment of plastic pollution in water have been focused on microplastics and a very limited study has been performed on the NPs treatment. In this work, the role of main reactive oxygen species (ROSs) in the electrooxidation (EO) and electro-peroxidation (EO-H2O2) of NPs in water is investigated. In-situ generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH), persulfates (S2O82-), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were performed using boron-doped diamond (BDD) as the anode, whereas titanium (in EO process) and carbon felt (CF, in EO-H2O2 process) were used as cathode. In the EO process, NPs were mainly oxidized by two types of ROSs on the BDD surface: (i) •OH from water discharge and (ii) SO4•- via S2O82- reaction with •OH. In EO-H2O2 process, NPs were additionally degraded by •OH formed from H2O2 decomposition as well as SO4•- generated from direct or indirect reactions with H2O2. Analysis of the degradation of NPs showed that EO-H2O2 process was around 2.6 times more effective than EO process. The optimum amount of NPs degradation efficiency of 86.8% was obtained using EO-H2O2 process at the current density of 36 mA·cm-2, 0.03 M Na2SO4, pH of 2, and 40 min reaction time. In addition, 3D EEM fluorescence analysis confirmed the degradation of NPs. Finally, the economic analysis showed the treatment of NPs using EO-H2O2 process had an operating cost of 2.3 $US.m-3, which was around 10 times less than the EO process. This study demonstrated that the in-situ generation of ROSs can significantly enhance the degradation of NPs in water.

Energy balance assessment on chicken manure for biogas production in Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaïr of Morocco.

Chicken manure management has grabbed significant attention in Morocco due to the increasing demand on chicken and eggs. Bioconversion of chicken manure to biogas could reduce the chicken manure amount as well as generate clean energy. To evaluate the feasibility of converting chicken manure to biogas in terms of energy gain, the energy balance of the chicken manure for biogas production in the region of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaïr of Morocco has been investigated. The result showed that there was an energy gain of 1350 MJ for per tonne of dry chicken manure was converted to biogas. The energy gain increased to 3996 MJ/tonne of dry chicken manure when the wheat straw was added to co-digest with chicken manure. With consideration of converting the obtained biogas for electricity generation, there was extra electricity for sale after subtracting the electricity consumed inside the poultry industry. Comparing with co-firing, pyrolysis, and gasification, chicken manure anaerobic digestion was superior in terms of energy gain.

A review on production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters by thermophilic microbes using waste feedstocks.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are produced by numerous microbes as a subcellular energy source. Despite of their diverse applications, exorbitant production cost limits their commercial synthesis. Apart from various cost determining factors such as cost-effective feedstocks or economic recovery methods, the use of appropriate bacteria holds the key to reduce the fermentation economics. Extremophiles, especially thermophilic PHA producers, could make the bioprocess economically viable by reducing the production cost in several aspects. Using variety of waste feedstocks as carbon substrates could open the way for the valorisation of industrial waste streams and cost-effective PHA production. Therefore, the article critically reviews the current knowledge of the synthesis of PHA polyesters in thermophilic conditions. Additionally, it summarises several studies on thermophilic PHA producing bacteria grown on various waste substrates. To conclude, the paper focuses on screening and recovery methods as well as technical challenges in thermophilic PHA production.

Greenhouse gas emissions in sludge ultrasonication followed by anaerobic digestion processes.

This paper presents the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during ultrasonication of sludge and anaerobic digestion (AD) of the ultrasonicated sludge using mass-energy balance. Computation of the net energy (energy recovered - energy input) revealed that high solids concentration with low sonication specific energy provides positive net energy. Moreover, the GHG emissions can be minimised at low sonication specific energy input and high solids concentration compared to that of the control without sonication. Increase in temperature of sludge during sonication will reduce the energy input required for raising the sludge temperature to AD temperature and thus decreases the GHG emissions. With energy recovery from the methane produced in AD, the total GHG emissions can further be reduced, lower than that without energy recovery from methane.

Concomitant production of value-added products with polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis: A review.

The concern over the damaging effects of petrochemical plastics has inspired innumerable researchers to synthesize green plastics. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are promising candidates as they are biodegradable and possess characteristics similar to conventional plastics. However, their large-scale production and market application still have a long way to go due to the high production cost associated. Approaches like using industrial wastes as substrates and developing green strategies for PHA extraction during downstream processing have been investigated to make the process more economical. Recently, PHA production cost was minimized by concomitant synthesis of other valuable bioproducts with PHA. Investigating these co-products and recovering them can also make the process circular bioeconomic. Therefore, the paper attempts to review the recent strategies for the simultaneous synthesis of value-added bioproducts with PHA together with the challenges and opportunities for their large-scale production and applications.

Treatment processes for microplastics and nanoplastics in waters: State-of-the-art review.

In this work, established treatment processes for microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in water as well as developed analytical techniques for evaluation of the operation of these processes were reviewed. In this regard, the strengths and limitations of different qualitative and quantitative techniques for the analysis of MPs and NPs in water treatment processes were first discussed. Afterward, the MPs and NPs treatment processes were categorized into the separation and degradation processes and the challenges and opportunities in their performance were analyzed. The evaluation of these processes revealed that the MPs or NPs removal efficiency of the separation and degradation processes could reach up to 99% and 90%, respectively. It can be concluded from this work that the combination of separation and degradation processes could be a promising approach to mineralize MPs and NPs in water with high efficiency.

Environmental applications of microbial extracellular polymeric substance (EPS): A review.

During the last decade, water demand and wastewater generation has increased due to urbanization around the globe which had led to an increase in the utilization of chemicals/synthetic polymers for treating the wastewaters. These synthetic polymers used during the coagulation/flocculation process are non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and have a potential neurotoxic and carcinogenic effect. From the literature it is clear that extracellular polymer substance (EPS) is a potential bioflocculant, moreover it is renewable, biodegradable, eco-friendly, non-toxic as well as economically valued product. The various identification techniques and extraction methods of EPS are elaborated. Further application of EPS as absorbent in removing the dye from the industrial effluent is presented. Moreover EPS as a potential adsorbent for heavy metal removal from the various effluent is discussed. In addition, EPS is also utilized for soil remediation and soil erosion control. Mainly, EPS as bioflocculant in treating raw water, wastewater treatment, leachate and sludge management are summarized in this review.